SERIOUSLY: Don’t read this if you haven’t seen “Memento,” even if you don’t think it’s your kind of movie. You’ll kick yourself if you decide to see it later.
Anyway, I think it was someone here who observed that there wasn’t a wasted line in this movie. In that spirit:
Why did “Teddy” stop Leonard from taking his picture until he was in front of Lenny’s truck? I watched it for the first time this weekend (and second and third) and I still can’t think of a reason for this.
Why wasn’t Natalie more distressed when she met Leonard, looking pretty disheveled, wearing Jimmy’s clothes, and driving Jimmy’s car? My only guess is that she wasn’t too attached to Jimmy, and given his line of work - strange things happening aren’t all that rare.
Speaking of Jimmy, how did he know about Sammy?
I had a couple more, but I found those in older threads. My apologies if these have been asked before, I couldn’t find them anywhere else.
Teddy’s Picture I’m not sure either, I think it may be a red herring.
Leonard as Jimmy I assume she was just being cautious, because Jimmy dealt with dangerous people.
Jimmy and Sammy Well Teddy said that Leonard told Jimmy about Sammy. “Why would I do that?” “Beause you tell everyone about Sammy!” Jimmy had met Leonard before so it makes sense.
I watched this again for the umpteenth time this weekend and I am really appreciateing the little touches. For example when Leonard is getting a description of Dodd from Natalie, he flexes his hand. It is sore and he doesn’t know why, and neither do we. Later we learn it is because he hit Natalie. Also, why does he fall asleep so easily after beating Dodd? Because he was up almost all night burning some of his wife’s things.
I thought about that too, but it seems like a cheap trick. But I’ve watched the scene several times (thank God for DVD) and I can’t discern any other reason for it.
Actually I was confused at why if Leonard had known Teddy for over a year why it took unitl then to take his picture? Seems he took everyones picture almost immediately upon meeting them. Did I miss something?
I assume that because Teddy is using him for his own purposes, he makes sure that Leonard doesn’t have a picture of either the present victim (aka Jimmy) or himself. Leonard probably took one, but Teddy could have just ripped it out of his hand without Lenny knowing about it later.
Teddy’s picture I though it was not because of where he didn’t want to to photographed, but where he did. I think he wanted Lenny’s truck to be in the shot (he [Teddy] hated his car and was forever trying to get someone elses. Hell, I would rather have had the pick-up than that piece of shit he (Teddy) was driving. He checks the photo after it’s taken.
Lenny as Jimmy She knew Jimmy was a drug dealer. She knew a cop had been by the bar asking questions (and had ask her about someone fitting Lenny’s description). She knew Jimmy was meeting “some guy named Teddy” to do a drug deal (she did not know James[Teddy] the cop and ‘Teddy’ on the phone were the same guy). I’m sure it’s safe to assume that she assumed that drug deals go bad (especially when cop are involved). I think her attitude was ‘if some shit went wrong, I don’t know anythig about it’.
Jimmy and Sammy Teddy knew he was going to have Lenny kill Jimmy, so he couldn’t very well have Jimmy be surprized to see him at the drop. So he introduced them earlier (probably portraying Lenny as harmless) so Jimmy wouldn’t be on guard and Lenny could easier get a drop on him. In explaining his condition, he would have mentioned Sammy to Jimmy.
Lenny’s lack of earlier ‘Teddy’ Photos I’m sure that everytime Lenny killed someone, Teddy convinced him to destroy all the evidence. Lenny - not being stupid - would have thought this prudent. I’m sure he had taken plenty of pics of Teddy in the past. But he wouldn’t remember.
So Lenny was booked in the hotel twice (as far as we know, he could have gone through this same scenario 50 times). Didn’t he take the picture, chronologically, before he was checked into the Desert Inn the second time? Maybe Teddy didn’t want the hotel in the background to remind Lenny that he had been there before.
This is off of memory, I haven’t seen the movie in a couple of months. So anyone with a more recent viewing, feel free to shoot it down…
Not a whole lot to add, but I just saw this movie yesterday (watched it twice!). What an awesome film! I plan to buy the DVD so I can watch it over and over again.
My favorite parts are:
“Now…what am I doing? Oh, I’m chasing this guy” (too funny)
And the part at the end where the two stories (b&w and color) “meet up” and everything turns to color as he shakes out the photo.
I looked up all the threads on the film yesterday, which gave me a lot of food for thought (and ideas of little touches to look for). I have an idea about what happened and didn’t, but it’s similar to a lot of things in other threads, so I won’t bother typing it all out. I had the same question about why Teddy wanted the photo taken by the truck. It’s the one thing I think I don’t fully understand from the film.
Guy Pearce needs an Oscar nomination. That goes double for Joe Pantaliano. I love that guy.
Did anyone else have really weird dreams after seeing the movie? All last night I had these strange dreams where everything was happening in reverse and I felt like I had to write down everything that happened. Freaked me out.
warmgun slowly levels his Mannlicher-Carcano at DaveX’s theory and s-l-o-w-l-y squeezes the trigger…
Having watched that part a couple of times, I’d say there is not enough of the building to tell what it is - it could be the open expanse of any building. Lenny wouldn’t be able to remember what it looked like anyway. Lenny: “I can’t form new memories.” Lenny can’t be "remind"ed of anything that happened after the accident.
I saw this only once, and it was a few months ago, so I may be way off. I thought the reason Teddy didn’t want to be photographed in front of his own car was that he knew the power of the poloroids and wanted to minimize the information about him they could reveal.
My own favorite “little touch” in the movie, like those Tretiak mentioned: every time Teddy is around Leonard, he either asks for his car keys or otherwise attempts to trick him into giving them up. Knowing the ending, and knowing that Teddy maneuvered Leonard into killing Jimmy for the cash in the car, it’s really sinister to see Teddy playing it casual, trying to get hold of the keys.
ignatzmouse, IIRC they were walking between the cars and the original shot wouldn’t have had any cars in it.
Also, DaveX, based on the conversation between the hotel manager (?) and Lenny if he had been checked in 50 times before, they would have had that conversation long before. Evidence of this is the lack of intrest he showed went Lenny left later (earlier).
Its been awhile since I’ve seen it to so bear with me.
The truck is in the background of Teddy’s picture right? Is he leaning on it or is it just in the background?
I would assume this is so Teddy can have a familiar thing in his picture for Lenny.
So when Lenny looks at his picture he sees Teddy and his truck so it might make it clearer for him to trust Teddy.
I didn’t feel like reading the 100 or so threads already done on this topic so I’ll just give my opinions here.
I don’t believe Teddy’s explanation. Especially about Sammy not being real. Lenny couldn’t have created the whole Sammy story due to his condition.
I was a little disappointed with the Teddy/Lenny partnership because with the exception of a memory problem, it was nearly identical to the Steve Buscemi/Antonio Banderas relationship in DESPERADO.
Did you guys know that the DVD will not have the option of watching the movie chronologically?
I’m sure this is simply to make more money off the few hundred fans of the movie when they make a MEMENTO SPECIAL EDITION DVD later the same year.
ignatzmouse, IIRC they were walking between the cars and the original shot wouldn’t have had any cars in it.
Also, DaveX, based on the conversation between the hotel manager (?) and Lenny if he had been checked in 50 times before, they would have had that conversation long before. Evidence of this is the lack of intrest he showed went Lenny left later (earlier).
Green Fool, to save you the trouble of read all those threads I kind of summed up the general concensus with a thought or two of my own (note that there are some who strongly disagree - for those, you will have to read. I feel the best is this tread):
Sammy tries to scam the insurance company. Lenny learns about brain disorders, including the physical and psychological differences, and exposes him.
The attack happened on 2/24/97. There are two attackers. This is backed up by the newspaper story. The last thing Lenny sees (before passing out) is his wife dying. This implies to him she died. But she lives.
The physical trauma and emotional stress cause Lenny to crack. He forms an alter ego to help himself cope. The evidence of this is the two different styles of hand-writing he exhibits in the hospital, even the self-referencing sentence, “You recognize this hand-writing, don’t you?” And he says ‘later’ how important it is to have notes in his own handwriting. The ‘good’ Lenny and the ‘bad’ Lenny now exist. Good Lenny is repressed and made to believe (by b/Lenny) that he has Sammy’s ‘condition’.
Though his wife is alive, b/Lenny pesters the lead cop (Teddy) to help him find the ‘killer’. Though I think revenge for the rape is reason enough for him to help.
Sympathetic, but wary because of Lennys condition, Teddy gives Lenny a doctored version of the police report.
Now on the trail, b/Lenny lets g/Lenny take over. This is why the Lenny we see seems sincere (he wouldn’t talk to himself the way he does otherwise). It’s also why he has a ‘condition’.
This dual personality explains some apparent contradictions in the movie such as remembering his condition, writing “FACT 5:…”, etc. He wouldn’t be able to remember what fact he was up to or even that he had a list of ‘facts’ if he had a real condition and were it not for b/Lenny nudging him on these matters. But it’s subtle so g/Lenny doesn’t notice.
He begins to write notes on his body, leading him towards a suspect. This is revealed by his snapping remark to Natalie, “Haven’t you ever written a phone number on your hand?” But it’s not a good system. The notes wash off. This is alluded to several times buy watching him try to wash the ‘Sammy’ tattoo off and often refering to Sammy’s inferior system. This is why he says later he needs a better system. His wife is growing frantic but continues to try to help. He transposes this onto the Sammy story.
Meanwhile, his buddy, the cop (while undercover) sees a way to use Lenny to kill a drug dealer and pocket the cash, and does. Teddy takes the photo. Lenny writes, “I did it” on his chest. This explains the scene towards the ‘end’ of the movie, he and his wife together with the ‘I did it’ written on his chest. He is remembering back.
Realizing what he has done (because of the ‘I did it’ scrawl), his wife is now a threat. B/Lenny uses her diabetes as a weapon against her and purposely injects her and kills her. B/Lenny twists this around and also works it into the Sammy story inflicting ‘his’ contrived ‘memories’ onto unsuspecting g/Lenny. (Remember the speach Lenny gives Teddy: “Memory is unreliable” - his own memories of what happened before the accident are unreliable as well)
This turn of events causes Lenny to be hospitalized for observation in Jan of ’98. Trapped, b/Lenny reveals himself to g/Lenny through a set of letters to himself and coaxes him to escape. The evidence for this is the use of the “we” and the second-person style of writing. And we know it’s the b/Lenny because ‘he’ keeps re-enforcing to g/Lenny that his brain is damaged and he wouldn’t remember anything anyway.
His dual personality also explains why he sometimes asks for his wife but writes to himself she is gone.
So in Sept ’98 he/they break out.
He now resumes where he left off not remembering he was even hospitalized. Teddy lures him away from CA to keep him from being caught and to further his manipulation of him.
Lenny institutes his better system by using tattoos instead of writings.
Together, they kill several drug dealers (despite several not fitting the “facts”).
Teddy turns Lenny on to Jimmy and sets a drug buy. G/Lenny kills Jimmy. B/Lenny greedily takes his clothes. Teddy shows up for the money temporarily bringing out the g/Lenny again. He confuses and angers him with the truth. Head spinning, g/Lenny gets into Jimmy’s car to leave. Realizing what is happening, he asks himself, “Can I afford to forget what you’ve just told me?” b/Lenny grins and says, “For you, Teddy. I can.”
Dodd (Jimmy’s ‘boss’) threatens Natalie. She uses Lenny to get Dodd off her back. In return, she helps him find John G. via the DMV connection. This leads him to Teddy. He kills him.
Movie starts.
You can do what I did. Go to “scene seclection” and select to watch the scenes in chronological order.
I don’t know if I buy the split personality bit warmgun describes above. That’s needlessly complex. I think Teddy helps Lenny find the rapist and the diabetes thing happens as Lenny describes Sammy doing it - not because of any “bad” Lenny, only his own memory of before the accident is faulty and he attributes this to Sammy as a defense mechanism for killing his wife. Teddy feels sympathy for Lenny and sees a way to make some money to boot, so he uses Lenny to kill Jimmy. Natalie, in turn, uses Lenny to get Dodd off her case and kill Teddy as revenge for Jimmy. Of course, at the end of the film, we know Lenny set Teddy up from the start anyway because he was angry at Teddy for what he had just said.
As for knowing what fact he was on, he starts with #1. He knows where he is from there because it’s tattooed all over him. But he didn’t see those tats when wrote himself the note right? Well, sometimes the writers make a mistake. No real need to read a bunch of things into it.
Actually, this thread in another forum gives a more complete way to watch the movie chronologically, depending on how programmable your DVD player is. I actually have no desire to do this myself, though.
I have to agree with Cr. Frog. I don’t really think it is all that complicated to need a dual personality. I simply, by the end of the movie do not find Leonard credible. It wasn’t gradual, it was more like a bullet Whoa, hey why was I trusting this guy. He’s screwed in the head after all. Heck, he even implicates himself when he says in the coffee shop that “Memory can’t be trusted. It changes the shape and color of a car.” Yet he bases his whole vengence on his memory…
Natalie: What’s the last thing you remember? Leonard: My wife… Natalie: That’s sweet. Leonard: …dying. I remember my wife dying.
Also I think he simply took Jimmy’s clothes because he wanted clean clothes.
Teddy: *That’s who you were, that’s not who you *are!
After seeing the film and watching it a second time, this line left me with the impression Lenny may have been doing his revenge bit for a while. Maybe who he is now is a serial killer, manipulated by a crooked cop to keep killing. After all, Teddy lies to Lenny a number of times in the film. Once, he says he’s a cop, then he says he’s a snitch. Who knows how long they’ve been at this?
I like the idea of not summing up the film and having the whole thing make sense to me. Every time I watch it now, I can come up with a new theory and see if it holds water.